Page 65 of Blood Day

I swallowed, my gaze sliding to the back of his head. He moved with the grace of a predator, silent and sleek and lethal. But there was an edge to his steps that hadn’t been there before. His spine was rigid, his hands loose at his sides. Almost as though he were ready to engage in battle.

My heart skipped a beat as I wondered if I was the intended target.

But he merely led me into another section of the palace, down a large grand hall that stretched three stories high, and out the massive front doors.

A car sat idling at the bottom of the stone steps with a human standing beside it, head bowed.

Master Cedric took something from the male’s hands. “You’re dismissed.”

The human didn’t reply, instead choosing to walk steadily away from the parked car. But he didn’t head up the main stairs. He started off down a sidewalk that seemed to lead to another building.

“In,” Master Cedric demanded, returning my attention to where he stood with the car door open.

I slid into the bucket seat without a word, doing my best to obey his every command. His mood suggested that doing otherwise would end badly.

He leaned in over me, dragging a buckle across my lap and clicking it into place.

The door slammed in the next second, his body moving too fast for me to comprehend.

And he was in the seat beside me a blink later.

My heart hammered against my ribs, his vampiric speed leaving me winded as though I’d been the one who’dmoved that quickly.

He started the car in the next instant, his foot hitting the pedal and shooting us forward.

I swallowed my scream, my training kicking in and forcing me to take hold of my emotions. But I couldn’t stop my thundering pulse or my harsh intake of breath.

“Relax,” Master Cedric muttered. “I’m not going to hurt you, Prospect.”

Prospect. Not Lily.

“But if you breathe a word of anything we’ve shared to anyone else, you will die.” His tone resembled a blade, sharp and lethal and intimidating. “Keep our secrets safe and you’ll prolong your survival.”

I’d already agreed to do so, but I whispered, “Yes, Master Cedric,” again just to make sure he knew I’d heard both of his warnings.

He said nothing else as he navigated the pitch-black roads, the moon and his car’s headlights the only illumination around us.

Until we reached the Blood University gates.

Then light flooded the surrounding walls, making it almost resemble daylight.

A pair of Vigils gave Master Cedric access without comment, allowing him to drive inside and park. I vaguely remembered him phasing us here after class.Was that just last night?It felt like at least a week ago.

He was out of the car almost as fast as he’d entered it, reaching my side and pulling open the door before I could even start to process the time change.

His fingertips brushed my hip as he found the buckle, then he reared back as though I’d burned him.

I really messed this up, I thought, swallowing as I moved to exit the car. I should have tried to talk to him on the way back, but I hadn’t been able to think much beyondcontrolling my reactions to him. And he was radiating so much furious energy that I felt choked by his presence.

I half expected him to slam the door, get back in the car, and leave me standing here. But he instead went to the trunk and retrieved a familiar bag—the one I used for my books and supplies.

He pulled it over his shoulder rather than handing it to me, shut the trunk, and started walking with another one of those nods.

I almost had to run to keep up with him as he stomped across the bare courtyard outside—the sand was much less beautiful than the palm trees and fountains we’d walked through not even thirty minutes ago—toward the residential area of campus.

I kept my head down in the way I’d been taught, following him without question.

No one was outside, suggesting we’d returned during one of the free-day studying hours. We usually had a mandated exercise activity upon waking, then breakfast, then study hours, until eventually being allowed sixty minutes to wander the grounds before dinner.